Queenstown Tourism Operator Wins Coveted Global Award

Queenstown-based Altitude Tours has been named the Top Wine Experience in the world by travel website Tripadvisor.

The luxury tour company’s ‘Queenstown Wine Sampler Tour’ was voted the Top Wine Experience in the world in the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice 2021 Best of the Best Awards and was declared the fourth best overall experience in New Zealand.

Altitude Tours managing director Nigel Hobbs says the accolade is a significant achievement for a NZ tourism operator - particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic - and the award is a result of all the reviews logged in 2020.

“We are absolutely stoked to be recognised as providing the best wine experience on the planet,” he says. “What’s even better is that this award hasn’t been decided by a third-party association – this has been judged by our previous customers who have submitted excellent reviews and ratings of the tour, making this award so much more authentic. We couldn’t be happier.”

Tripadvisor is the largest travel platform in the world with more than 859 million reviews on tourism and travel products such as accommodation, activities and experiences. The platform analyses the millions of reviews based on category type by country, then by world, for the annual Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best Awards.

The Altitude Tours Queenstown Wine Sampler Tour is a five-hour sightseeing and wine tasting experience chauffeured by an expert wine guide. The tour encapsulates fun, education and entertainment, and the journey ventures through some of NZ’s most stunning scenery around the Southern Lakes and Central Otago, stopping by award-winning wineries including Gibbston Valley, Kinross and Mt Rosa wines.

“When we first launched the tour back in 2017 it was our vision to create the world’s best wine experience and we’re excited to have achieved that,” Nigel says. “The Wine Sampler Tour really does showcase the best of what the lower part of NZ has to offer in terms of amazing wine and landscapes. We specifically picked off-the-beaten track and well-known cellar doors to give our guests the perfect combination of wines and cellar door experiences.”

Travelling in a luxury Mercedes adds to the appeal of the tour, as does the fact that all Wine Sampler Tours are guided by a fully trained wine master. All guides must go through a two-day theory and a practical examination to pass and be certified to guide any Altitude Tours experience. This certification includes the history of wine and beer, wine in NZ, wine in Central Otago, how to read your customers, and how to host and entertain.

As well as winning the coveted title of Tripadvisor Top Wine Experience – World, the Queenstown Wine Sampler Tour was ranked as the fourth-best overall activity in NZ, after rafting and ziplining in Rotorua, and a Milford Sound flight-cruise.

“Although Covid-19 caused disruption for many tourism businesses in NZ – particularly in Queenstown – we’re incredibly grateful to all the Kiwis that have come to see us in the past 12 months,” Nigel says.

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